You wouldn’t let the car run out of gas… but you don’t eat breakfast?

You wake up tired and have no appetite. Maybe a coffee, then mid-morning another coffee, and in the middle of the day you devour… You tend to spend the day with energy ups and downs.

You must have had a late dinner. Late and heavy dinners make the liver feel saturated and the whole digestive system loaded, affecting the nervous system, which does not recover well in the hours of sleep if the body is digesting, assimilating… Imagine if you were asked to work in the middle of the night, when you should be sleeping. That’s how your organs feel the next day.

Adapting to the body’s natural rhythms is a challenge in our society. And in Spain, we often follow a schedule that is not adapted to our biological rhythms, leisure time is at the expense of sleep, physical activity is often left until after work, we eat late at night and have dinner late. It all starts with understanding how we are and how we function in order to regulate ourselves.

The best known and most representative biological rhythm of the human being is determined by the phases of light and darkness, known as the sleep-wake cycle. This rhythm is considered the main one for regulating and setting the central clock located in our brain, although there are other factors such as physical activity, external temperature or diet that help to regulate the different peripheral clocks located in muscle, heart, liver, kidney or immune cells.

Chronobiology (from the Greek: kronos=time, bios=life and logos=science) is the science that studies the biological reactions of living beings in relation to time, its alterations and the mechanisms that regulate it.  It explores practical problems such as the effects of summer or winter time, the variability in clinical analyses, problems associated with sleep, hormonal changes, etc.

Depending on the time of day, our bodies are more ready to do some activities or others. You don’t have the same capacity to remember something at midday as you do at midnight. Numerous research carried out at Harvard University and by Traditional Chinese Medicine itself has shown that there is an ideal time for some activities, such as making decisions or studying at ten o’clock in the morning, exploring and putting creativity into practice at twelve o’clock, getting full nutrition at one o’clock in the afternoon, exercising at six o’clock in the evening or repairing oneself deeply between 11 o’clock at night and 5 o’clock in the morning.

It is possible to adapt to what our body really needs and what our body can do at any time of the day by following some guidelines that will make us healthier and will be noticeable in our performance:

1. An early dinner is essential, preferably before 8:30 pm.
2. In the evening, sweet, relaxing vegetables and vegetable protein are best, and do not eat dessert or fruit immediately afterwards, as this inhibits the absorption of vegetable protein; wait at least an hour before eating it.
3. If you get home late, take it with you or find a complete snack-dinner wherever you are. After doing the chores at home, you will only feel like having a broth, cream or natural compote.
4. During the day, avoid sugary fizzy drinks, stimulants, refined sugars, excess meat products…
5. Whenever possible, take a bath or do a relaxing activity before going to bed.
6. Start the morning with a warm herbal tea, such as ginger and lemon, to alkalise and prepare the body for the day, while you prepare a full breakfast based on whole grain cereals, nuts, seeds, quality protein, vitamins and minerals… (or leave it prepared for the night). If you have no appetite until mid-morning or if you are physically or mentally exhausted, reinforce mid-morning with a sandwich of wholemeal bread. This will give you stable energy for many hours. It works!

Nutritious and energetic breakfast ideas:  

• Seasonal fruit or fresh vegetable smoothie, with a handful of roasted nuts and seeds
• Good quality coffee or Maatcha Tea with oat milk
• Artisan wholemeal or sprouted grain bread (for toast or sandwiches) or buckwheat pancakes (easy to get, fill at home and take away). The pancakes are got by mixing 300 grams of buckwheat flour with 500 ml of rice milk and a pinch of salt in a blender. Leave the batter to rest for 10 minutes in the fridge and then in a hot frying pan with a few drops of olive oil, turn the pancakes over and over. They will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.
• Choice of toppings or fillings:
  • Organic boiled or grilled egg
  • Cucumber slices with dill
  • Chickpea hummus with grated carrots
  • Avocado with lemon, herb salt and virgin olive oil
  • Iberian ham
  • Olivada of olives
  • Artisan butter with rosemary honey
  • Natural apple and date compote

Restoring the body’s natural rhythms, aligned with those of the environment in which we live, will undoubtedly lead to a better use of energy, as well as bringing balance and satisfaction. Let’s start by regaining a healthy appetite in the morning, paying attention to the choices we made the previous evening/night. Preventing health imbalances starts with anticipating the actions we take and their consequences.

María Kindelán